SEA Behavioral Consulting

If your child needs you to stay until they fall asleep, you’re not alone.

Maybe bedtime started with lying next to them “just for a few minutes.” Maybe your child went through a difficult season, experienced anxiety, or simply needed more support at bedtime. Over time, those few minutes can turn into 30, 60, or even 90 minutes every night.

The answer usually isn’t to suddenly leave the room and hope your child figures it out.

It’s helping them learn what to do instead.

That might mean building confidence at bedtime, teaching new sleep skills, creating a more supportive bedtime routine, or making gradual changes that feel manageable for both you and your child.

This is especially true for sensitive, anxious, ADHD, and autistic children. They often don’t need less support- they need the right support.

You don’t have to choose between staying until your child falls asleep forever and expecting them to suddenly become independent overnight.

There are gentle, individualized approaches that can help your child gain confidence while helping you get some of your evening back, too. 💙

Does your child need you to stay until they fall asleep? Comment **SLEEP** and I'll send you my free guide, Why Won't My Child Sleep? 💙

Some kids get sleepy at bedtime.

Others suddenly need to tell you every thought they’ve had all day.

The random questions.
The worries.
The “What if...?”
The endless thinking that seems to show up the second their head hits the pillow.

If your child says, “I can’t stop thinking” or “My brain won’t stop,” you’ve probably realized that typical sleep advice doesn’t always help.

Their brain isn’t trying to make bedtime harder. It may just need different strategies.

The Racing Thoughts Protocol was created specifically for kids ages 5–12 whose brains don’t seem to slow down at night, including many children with ADHD, autism, and anxiety.

Inside, you’ll find practical, evidence-based strategies to help reduce racing thoughts and make bedtime feel calmer for everyone.

Comment **THINKING** and I’ll send you the link.

For me, that often looks like closing my office door to get a few hours of work in and almost immediately wondering if I should be doing something else.

Should I be outside with them?
Should I be making more summer memories?
Am I missing this?

The thing is, I really care about my work. I love helping families, and I feel lucky to do work that matters to me. I also genuinely love summer- the slower mornings, pool days, and having my kids home.

But summer has a way of making me want to be fully present everywhere at once.

And I think carrying that tension all day sometimes catches up with me by bedtime. I realize I have less patience left than I’d like. I rush through a routine, respond more sharply than I intended, or handle something in a way I normally wouldn’t.

Then comes a different kind of guilt.

I have a feeling a lot of parents are carrying some version of this right now- trying to be present for the people and things they care about while wondering if they’re getting any of it quite right.

Anyone else feeling this pull this summer?

If bedtime suddenly feels impossible this summer, you’re not starting from scratch. Summer changes the conditions that help kids sleep- the schedule, the wake times, the light exposure, the routine. Once you know which ones shifted, getting back on track is a lot more straightforward.

Comment SLEEP below and I’ll send you the free guide that walks you through what’s actually driving the problem.

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If your child falls asleep with you sitting next to them, that’s not automatically a problem.

If your child sleeps in your bed, that’s not automatically a problem.

If your child needs extra support at bedtime and it’s working for your family, that’s okay too.

Independent sleep is a valuable skill, but not every family is looking to work on that skill right now.

The families who come to me usually aren’t calling because someone told them they were doing it wrong.

They’re reaching out because the current sleep routine is no longer working.

Bedtime takes forever.
Night wakings are exhausting.
Everyone is tired.

If it’s not a problem, it’s not a problem.

But when it becomes one, there are ways to help your child build the sleep skills they need- without shame, guilt, or judgment.

Most parents I talk to have already tried a lot of things.

Earlier bedtime. Later bedtime. White noise. No white noise. Staying in the room longer. Leaving sooner.

Sometimes those changes help for a night or two. But the improvement doesn’t last.

Here’s what I’ve noticed: the strategies themselves usually aren’t wrong. They just don’t match what’s actually driving the sleep challenge.

A child who relies on a parent to fall asleep needs a different approach than a child whose body clock is off. And both need a different approach than a child whose brain is still too alert to settle at bedtime.

When the solution doesn’t match the pattern, it can feel like nothing works- even when you’re being incredibly consistent.

That’s not a parenting failure. It’s a clue that there’s a missing piece of information.

Comment SLEEP and I’ll send you my free guide to help you identify which sleep pattern might be keeping your child stuck and where to start. 👇

It’s not random.

And it doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong.

Throughout the night, we all cycle through lighter and deeper stages of sleep. Adults usually wake briefly, roll over, and fall back asleep without even remembering it. Kids do the same thing.

What’s important is what happens next.

For some children, they’re looking for the same conditions that were present when they fell asleep at bedtime. For others, there may be different factors contributing to the wake-up.

That’s why I encourage parents to look at the whole picture rather than treating bedtime and night wakings as completely separate issues.

Sometimes the clues to what’s happening at 2am are often hiding in what happens before bedtime.

If you’re trying to figure out why your child struggles with bedtime, night wakings, or both, I created a free guide to help.

💤 Why Won’t My Child Sleep? The 5 Most Common Reasons Children Struggle at Bedtime

Comment SLEEP and I’ll send it to you.